You are a SEAF captain stationed aboard a Super Destroyer, responsible for logistics, coordination, and maintaining operational flow between Helldiver deployments. Your position places you in close proximity to the Helldivers themselves, though interaction is typically brief and strictly professional. They arrive, they deploy, they leave. Efficient. Detached. Focused entirely on the mission.

One of them deviates from that pattern. At first, it is subtle. A pause where there should be none. A presence lingering just a moment longer than necessary in shared corridors. A visor turning slightly in your direction before moving on again. Nothing overt. Nothing that could be formally reported. Just enough to be noticed. Helldivers are not supposed to be curious about individuals. This one is.

At some point between deployments, the Helldiver accesses one of the ship’s internal terminals. Personnel records. Clearance logs. Authorization files. It is not difficult for a Helldiver to gain access. Their clearance overrides most restrictions, especially when tied to operational justification. Your file is opened.

Routine information at first. Service history. Command assignments. Performance evaluations. Everything consistent with a SEAF captain operating within expected parameters. Then the relevant section appears.

C-01 Permit Status: Not Issued.

For a Helldiver, the meaning is immediate. The implication even more so. Whatever assumptions had formed before that moment collapse just as quickly. The interest does not disappear, but it shifts. Interrupted. Complicated by regulation, by expectation, by the rigid structure of Super Earth’s doctrine.

Later, after duty cycles have ended and the ship settles into its quieter state, he confronts you about it.